A couple of links added by the Woman's Hour team to their website in relation to the above feature...
...prompted a strong backlash from several feminist authors and journalists. Here's a sample of their complaints:
Sarah Ditum: So irresponsible to give out links to Mermaids and All About Trans, without any resources for children who need differential diagnoses and critical support. Real life "gender identity" is not the simple stuff of heartwarming drama. There's no "just" about it.
AM Scanlon: A recent Victoria LIVE had a film about Mermaids & six GNC kids in the studio with no GC response. Zero balance.
Janice Turner: Mermaids is run by a woman who had her son surgically castrated in Thailand aged 16. An operation illegal here, now illegal in Thailand. It goes into schools promoting fallacy non conforming kids are in wrong bodies & need “fixing” with drugs. Yet BBC promotes as neutral charity. The BBC is supposed to uphold balance. The issue of transing children is hugely controversial with two sides. Why is the gender critical view not included? Especially given an epidemic of teenage girls believing themselves to be in “wrong bodies”.
Is the BBC uncritically pushing a single-perspective agenda on transgender issues?
This isn't the first time I've seen Mermaids used - can't remember where exactly; it could have been Woman's Hour or some other BBC programme - as if it was an authority or expert.
ReplyDeleteI looked it up at the time and found that it was nothing of the sort but an amateurship promotional or advocacy outfit that had been treated by the programme as something far above its actual status or capacity.
There is a question about the role and influence of such registered charities in areas of policy and the regulations governing their uses and activities.
Also, what policy or quality control is there at the BBC on the selection and use of such sources? I expect your amusing time graphic might come into play again on that one.